Deal | Like Tetris as a fighting game: This Steam game is now free instead of $20

Crystal Crisis is best described as a mix of Tetris and a fighting game: Two players drop pairs of colored crystals onto their respective playfields and try to build the largest possible groups of the same color before breaking them with a so-called Spark Crystal. The bigger the resulting chain reaction, the more crystals are sent to the opponent. If the playfield fills all the way to the top, the round is lost – just like in Tetris, only as a head-to-head duel.

What makes Crystal Crisis special is its large crossover roster, bringing together characters that normally have nothing to do with each other. These include Isaac from The Binding of Isaac, Quote and Curly Brace from Cave Story, Astro Boy, Black Jack and Umihara Kawase. There are 20 characters to choose from in total, each with their own arenas, music tracks and offensive and defensive special abilities. Depending on the character, players can, for example, rearrange their opponent's crystals or clear parts of their own playfield.

According to GamingTrend's review, Crystal Crisis offers an accessible yet surprisingly tactical puzzle system. However, the individual characters' special abilities are said to be somewhat poorly balanced. The review also criticized long loading times and the angled perspective of the playfields, which can make it harder to keep track of the action. Overall, however, the game still earned a score of 80 out of 100. Of the nearly 220 reviews posted on Steam so far, 74% are positive.

Regardless of the reviews, Crystal Crisis may be worth a look for anyone who enjoys competitive multiplayer games. The 2019 title from Nicalis, Inc. is currently available completely free on Steam. The game normally costs $19.99. Another advantage: The puzzle game is Verified for the Steam Deck.

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